1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present inventive concept relate to an image forming apparatus which can effectively reduce power consumption.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus, for example, a multi-function printer (MFP) may be broadly divided into two parts, namely, an operating panel part which accepts a user input, and a main control part which controls operations of the MFP such as actual copying, scanning and printing tasks. The user input is received in the operating panel part, and the main control part is requested to perform a task. Thereafter, the operating panel part receives the result of the task and displays the result.
In the past, the operating panel part and the main control part of an image forming apparatus were composed of one CPI and one board, but in order to provide better speed and user experience (UX), the operating panel part has recently been composed of one operating panel microcomputer and one board, and the main control part is composed of one CPU and one board.
Recently, as concern for the environment rapidly increases, many products support a sleep mode, which may be compared to a normal mode, in which unnecessary power consumption may be reduced when the user does not use the product.
According to the conventional art, when the user does not use a multi-function printer, a sleep mode is turned on, and thus power of main components is turned off, thereby effectively reducing power consumption.
However, at the sleep mode, in order to continually operate parts for allowing the consumer to distinguish the sleep mode from the power-off mode, such as a power LED, etc. which show that the product is in a power-on state, the control panel microcomputer of the control panel part should maintain power-on state even in the sleep mode.
As such, even in the sleep mode, power for maintaining the power-on state of the control panel microcomputer is continually consumed.